Kyle Harrison hasn’t even pitched a complete season at the major league level, yet he’s already done what no other visiting pitcher in history has – tame the altitude at Coors Field in Colorado. Harrison spun five stellar shutout innings in his latest trip to Rockies’ home Thursday, becoming the first pitcher to ever have two scoreless starts of five innings or more in the same season there.
Since its inception in 1999, Coors Field has been a bandbox for hitters. Balls hit there historically travel further, making it a hitter’s paradise no matter who is on the bump. However, it has also proven to be a pitcher’s worst nightmare, unless your name is Kyle Harrison. The 22-year-old phenom has handcuffed the Rockies’ offence both times he has pitched there.
Harrison is unbeaten in four total career starts and has a 2.45 overall ERA versus the Rockies, but he’s been flawless and especially stingy and at Coors Field where he’s put up an ERA of zilch.
Harrison has the lowest all-time lifetime ERA at Coors Field of any visitor pitcher to make multiple starts in the Rockies’ home ballpark.
Former Giants pitcher John Brebbia and Atlanta Braves’ Max Fried both had 0.00 ERAs at Coors Field, tying Harrison for the greatest performance by an opponent pitcher.
Compare that to what some of baseball’s greats have accomplished at Coors Field throughout the years. Among pitchers with at least four starts there, Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw has a 4.82 ERA and Pedro Martinez checks in
Roger Clemens had a 4.71 ERA, while Greg Maddux had a monstrous 5.19.
“Would have been great to win today, obviously, but it’s a cool achievement,” Harrison told reporters at Coors Field when asked about his incredible run. “Just another day in the garden.”
“I feel like I had a lot of (minor league) outings last year in high-altitude locations like Reno and (Las) Vegas. So I had a good idea of how my ball was going to go and where it should land. “Just switching things up.”
Harrison certainly accomplished that against Colorado on Thursday, but he seemed a touch crazy at times. While he was considerably better at getting ahead of batters,The rookie lefty fired 93 pitches, just 56 of which were strikes, which helped boost his pitch count.
When he was on, Harrison dealt. He was quite successful pitching inside and had great success pitching high in the zone.
Harrison’s fastball was his most effective pitch, resulting in seven swing-and-misses. He also included his slurve and attempted to get his change-up back on track after having spotty success with it in some of his recent appearances.
“Little better life on the fastball,” Giants manager Bob Melvin explained. “They had him work the final few innings in terms of deliveries, but his breaking ball was also better today, whether he was backdooring it or throwing it for strikes. “Kept them off his fastball for a short while.”
Like any excellent pitcher, Harrison was more concerned with what he couldn’t accomplish than what he could. He is eager to keep improving and chastised himself for not putting batters away when he had the edge.
“First-pitch strikes were better today, and that is something I emphasise,” Harrison stated. “But the 0-1s, I kind of allowed them back into counts, which resulted to four walks and some long ABs (without which I could have lasted in the game longer).”
Without a doubt, the Rockies believed he had spent enough time in his temporary home.
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